A Dorchester middle school principal sparked outrage for plagiarizing a Forbes magazine column in an effort to pump up her staff with an inspirational memo.

A Dorchester middle school principal earned herself a big fat zero with parents and school officials for plagiarizing a Forbes magazine column in an effort to pump up her staff with an inspirational memo.

According to a report by The Boston Globe, Jaime Moody, the new principal at Lilla Frederick Pilot Middle School, admitted to the misdeed. Students who submit word-for-word copying automatically fail the assignment.

Moody, who is new to the job, said in an apology obtained by Globe that she "inappropriately copied words from another author and passed them off as my own." She also apologized to the school department and the original author, Margie Warrell.

According to the report, a suspicious teacher discovered the plagiarism during a Google search. The story was called "Why Getting Comfortable With Discomfort is Crucial to Success." For now it is unclear what kind of disciplinary action, if any, she will face. A school department spokesman said any punishment would be a confidential personnel matter.